Men's Track & Field

Engineers Prepare for Championship Season with Final Tune-up Weekend

Apr 21, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT hosted its annual Spring Coed Invitational on Saturday, inviting a number of New England teams to the Steinbrenner track for a non-scoring meet. In addition to the meet at home, a small number of athletes traveled to Princeton University for the Larry Ellis Invitational, and performed extremely well in a very competitive field, setting a number of personal bests and breaking a 30-year old record in the process.

Sophomore Tyler Singer-Clark (Falmouth, Mass.) was impressive at home, placing second in a pair of events and running on the third-place 4x100 relay. Singer-Clark finished second in the 100 meters in 11.14 seconds and was the runner-up in the 200 with a time of 22.24 seconds. The sophomore teamed up with junior Daniel Ronde (East Northport, N.Y.) and freshmen Nick Diamantoni (Belle Mead, N.J.) and Sheldon Trotman (Gaithersburg, Md.) to run the 4x100 relay in 43.56, good for third behind Tufts University and Bridgewater State University.

Senior Chinedum Umachi (Detroit, Mich.) was solid in a pair of throwing events, winning the hammer with a toss of 176-00 feet and taking third in the discus (158-01 feet).

Junior Patrick Marx (Grand Rapids, Minn.) led a group of three Tech runners in the top nine in the 800 meters. Marx won the event with a time of 1:54.24. Junior Gilbert O'Neil (Norton, Mass.) took seventh with a time of 1:57.36 and junior Jared Forman (Newton, Mass.) was ninth.

Senior Daniel Harper (Naperville, Ill.) ran away from the rest of the field in the 10,000 meters. Harper's time of 30:30.57 was over two and a half minutes faster than his nearest competitor and is currently the 15th fastest time in Division III on the season.

Senior Nathan Peterson (Kansas City, Mo.) was the runner-up in the pole vault, as he and Mike Slovenski from Harvard each cleared the bar at 14-9.00 feet, with Slovenski taking first on attempts. Junior Yida Gao (Marietta, Ga.) was third and freshman Colin Hong (Honolulu, Hawaii) took fourth, as both had vaults of 14-3.25 feet.

Junior Jackson Wirekoh (Woodbridge, Va.) was the other event winner for the Cardinal and Gray, earning first place in the triple jump with his leap of 45-1.75 feet. Trotman was second in the event, with a 43-7.25-foot effort.

Meanwhile, at Princeton, three Tech runners were able to post solid times in their respective events, led by senior Kyle Hannon's (Park Ridge, Ill.) personal best in the 1500 meters. Hannon finished in 3:50.73 the fifth-best time in MIT history and the sixth-fastest in the country in 2012.

Senior Stephen Serene (Washington, D.C.) ran well in the 3000-meter Steeplechase, posting a personal record with his time of 9:20.32, a time that currently ranks 14th in the Division III. Freshman Sam Parker (Menlo Park, Calif.) had a time of 1:54.00 in the 800, setting a new MIT rookie record, breaking the previous mark that had stood since 1980.

Next weekend, the Engineers will look to defend their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title for the 12th year in a row. Smith College will host the conference championship meet beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.